Mahabaleshwar

My travelogue about my visit to Mahabaleshwar. Hope you all enjoy reading it. A 3 day trip proved to be more enjoyable than we expected. Let us recount the memories of the trip.

We started our trip on 1st Dec 2006 by bus. We M.Sc students were allotted last 2 rows and ahead of us were Sy boys. We had lots of fun with them. They were quite enthusiastic playing and singing with us. By afternoon we reached Pratapgadh. Our bus stopped at foot of Pratapgadh where we first visited a small emporium and then we headed towards the fort. The walk till the fort was real fun.

Pratapgadh is 195km away from Mumbai & 25kms away from Mahabaleshwar. The majestic fort was built in 1656 by Moropant Trimak Pingle under the command of the Maratha ruler Shivaji. It was here that the mighty general of Bijapur, Afzal Khan was killed by Shivaji. One can visit the tomb of Afzal Khan at the foot of the fort. There is a temple of Goddess Bhavani. There is a statue of Shivaji Maharaj inside the fort called Bale killa. The fort has a great view.

From here we headed towards Mahabaleshwar. We reached quite late at night. We stayed in a hotel Mount Castle which lies at the starting of ghat heading towards Wai. It was a beautiful hotel.

Let me give u a short history of Mahabaleshwar as told by our tour guide. Mahabaleshwar is at height of 4500 feet above sea level. Mahabaleshwar is one of the most spectacular and the largest of Maharashtra's hill-stations. Maharaja Pratapsinha of Satara (1818 to 1839) engineered a scheme to develop Mahabaleshwar as health resort.

Sir John Malcolm, the first governor to visit Mahabaleshwar in 1828, established Mahabaleshwar in 1829. Sir Charles Malet, the first resident in Pune durbar of the Peshwas in 1791 happens to be the first European to step on this plateau. In the 19th century, as soon as the sanitarium was founded, an open jail detention center was established. Convicts from China & Malaysia were stationed here. Mahabaleshwar was the summer capital of the Governor of the old Bombay Presidency. The Britishers built various mansions, Cottages and bungalows around the town, lending it a charismatic, sophistication.

The next day i.e. on 2nd we started our sightseeing by Wilson point. It is also called as sunrise point. It is the highest pt of about 4710 ft above sea level. It is a vast plateau. From there we went to Helen’s point. River Solshi starts from this point with a small fall near her origin. Poetic blue valley will be in front of you. An amazing sight to see. In the afternoon we went to visit Apiculture centre. After a small demonstration of how the process of extracting honey is being done, we visited Lodwick point, Elphinstone point, Arthur’s seat, Tiger’s spring, the Window, Kates point & Echo point (all the 7 points together are known as 7 sisters).

Almost 1,240 meters above the sea level, Lodwick Point has a great view. There is a monument in memory of the general, erected by his son. Walking ahead towards the Arthur’s seat lays Elphinstone point. The point overlooks two valleys, Koyna on the left & Savitri on the right. It is named after a former Governor of Mumbai. Between Lodwick Point and Elphinstone Point lies the Dhobi waterfall. Lying at 1,348 mts above sea-level is the queen of all points, the Arthur's Seat. It is mesmerizing to see the barren deep valley Savitri on the left & shallow green valley on the right. It is more interesting to know that Arthur's seat is the only place showing geographical division of Kokan & Deccan, two territories of Mahabaleshwar, so clear & so near. To reach Tiger’s spring we have to go by steps for about a km. The spring is supposed to be the source of the river Savtri. Immediately below the seat is a small ledge known as Window point. One has to go deep by steps to reach the window point. From this point one can observe the glorious valleys. Between Window point & Echo point lays the Kates Point. It offers breathtaking view of Krishna valley & deep waters of the Dhom dam. From southern side it looks like an elephants head. The last point in this series is the Echo point. We had great fun at this point calling our names and did all idiotic stuffs.

Late evening we visited Mapro. We visited the factory where we could observe the process and effort put into it to make delicious fruit jams, crushes & syrups. We had ice-cream there which was too yummy. Mapro has a very beautiful garden of colorful and amazing flowers.

After coming back to our hotel few of us along with Nayak sir & Vikrant sir walked down to the market to have soup. There while having soup unknowingly Vikrant sir told me about some surprise party which was planned at mid-night. Everyone present there was angry b’coz the surprise party was meant for me. After reaching hotel at around 11:30pm I went to my room and went off to sleep as if I never knew about the plan. 10min prior midnight I was woken up by Sy guys and they took me to the lawn where we sat talking. At midnight I called home after which everyone took me to the party room where we had a blast. I was thoroughly moved by the gesture and also missed my family and friends. I had a great time.

On 3rd we started off for a Venna lake. The place wasn’t happening at all. Actually few of us got pretty bored. Others went of for boating and all but we chose to sit in the dhaba next to the lake. After sometimes we wandered around to explore the place. Later in the evening we went to Panchgini market where I gave an ice-cream treat to M.Sc and Sy boys. I must say I really missed friends.

On 4th we headed to Wai, my native place. This was the first time I had being to my native place. It is 88 Kms. from Pune. Wai is situated at the banks of Krishna river. It is famous for temples. We visited the Sericulture institute of Wai where we were shown the process of extracting silk from the silkworms. Next we visited the famous Dholya Ganapati temple. It is considered as the important temple of Maharashtra. The idol of Lord Ganesh is very big. The temple is situated on the beautiful ghats of river Krishna. After spending time at the temple we headed back to Mumbai.